Turtle!

I'll put some back-posts about our time in Monterrico- what was kind of nuts was that we stayed up late to try to see nesting turtles in the middle of the night (and we didn't see any). Then, the next day (our free day), it was sort of overcast, and Tim came back with the news that he saw a turtle come up the beach and lay eggs! So after lunch I went on a major walk (miles), trying to find one; then on my way back I ran into Calvin, Shira, and Derek, and Calvin spotted one behind us! We watched it- it took several attempts to get onto the beach from the waves, and then was very slow walking up the beach- which you might expect, but what we were surprised by was how exhausted it got, and by how far from the waves it went (well into the grass beyond the beach). Then it turned around and dug a hole. But it did not lay eggs; it ended up just digging a whole, turning around, and returning to the ocean.

I was kind of glad it did not lay eggs! While we were the first people to spot this turtle, by the time it made its hole, there was quite a crowd, and I have now heard from several different sources that poaching of eggs is commonplace- Guatemala now simply asks that a few of the eggs are turned into the conservatory- but it sounds like this rarely happens.

Hopefully this turtle came back at another time and lay its eggs while no one was watching! I sure felt fortunate to see it though.